In 2005, a conscious decision was made by First Baptist Church of Putney to ‘put feet on the command’,

get out of our comfort zone, and follow the direction of JESUS. Fourteen dedicated believers made a

trip to the very poor community of Calvin, Oklahoma to lend aid to a 104 year old church in need of repair.

While there, in addition to the physical repairs made to the church, the team set up and taught Vacation

Bible School to the community, hosted a community wide fellowship meal, helped distribute much

needed food and helped with free medical assistance to those who were too poor to afford it on their own.

First Baptist Church of Calvin, Oklahoma consisted on a congregation of less than 100 and their average weekly tithes and offerings was less than $100.00. However, the team noticed that even though this termite ridden church could only be considered to be poor by anyone’s standards, they turned to the WORDS of JESUS and established a free food ministry in a tool shed and a free medical clinic and pharmacy in an old pastorium that had been considered unfit for human in-habitation. The food pantry was distributing free food to over 125 families on a regular monthly basis and the free medical clinic was operating one afternoon weekly staffed by volunteer doctor and nurses and a free pharmacy staffed by volunteer pharmacists. No doubt, a magnificent effort of faith.As one member of our team put it... “We went there to be a blessing and instead received a greater blessing in the form of GREATER VISION.”

Upon returning home, the team petitioned our church and opened a free food pantry, ‘Heavens Manna’,

that has distributed more than 240 tons of free food to those in need. The team has made annual trips

Oklahoma, northern West Virginia, north Georgia, southern Virginia, Louisiana, and northern Tennessee. Their efforts have yielded repairs to churches, personal homes of the poor and/or elderly, handicap accessibility to church, VBS to all these communities (many of which have not had any prior), community outreach festivals to

teach about JESUS, construction of new church, free food and clothing distribution, etc.

Funding for the efforts of the mission team has come from mission lunches, barbeque sales, and contributions from those who love JESUS and desire to see His work promoted by the tools He left on

earth...you and us! The team consists of those who sacrifice their vacation time or put their own businesses

on hold in order to meet the needs of those who are unable to help themselves. No one on

this team receives a cent in compensation and all proceeds from any fund raising event is totally

dedicated to the costs of fuel, food, housing, VBS materials, or construction or repair materials.